American women drop nearly $2 billion on antiaging creams and potions. Are they worth it? Dr. Amy Wechsler, author of The Mind-Beauty Connection, has the answer.
Maddeningly, much of that money is being spent on products that have little effect on skin’s aging process, because to halt the march of fine lines, sag, and pigmentation changes, you have to change skin’s deeper layers. And if any of the bazillion department and drugstore products that claim to erase age’s trademarks could actually do that -- say, by increasing cell turnover in the dermis -- the FDA would classify them as drugs. A few do exist, but you can only buy them with a doctor’s prescription.
Why are so many cosmetic claims so convincing? Five reasons:
·
Clever writing. Read the claims
carefully and you’ll realize they’re full of qualifying words like
“aim to” and “designed to diminish” and “reduce the appearance of”
and... well, you get the idea. These promises are etched in
anything but stone.
·
Scientific trappings. Even if a
product says, “clinically shown to...” remember that it’s one thing
to research how a component of coffee, such as caffeine, say,
affects mouse skin, and quite another to claim that adding coffee
to a lotion will perk up human skin. Also, little cosmetic research
meets the scientific gold standard -- that is, a randomized,
double-blind crossover study, performed by a qualified researcher
(who is usually affiliated with a university or teaching hospital)
with no financial stake in the outcome. The studies are usually
very small, typically lack a control for comparison, and are paid
for by cosmetics companies, which have a vested interest in the
results.
·
The placebo
effect. If you’ve just
plunked down $27.50, or $275, for a moisturizer, you want it to
make your skin look younger, smoother, firmer, so it’s easy to see
changes for the better. And let’s not forget the psychological
aspect of buying something luxuriously packaged. The packaging
alone can lead you to believe it will work! Savvy beauty companies
don’t skimp on presentation, especially when they command mucho
dinero for their goods.
·
No cops. Cosmetics aren’t
regulated by the FDA, so if a product doesn’t diminish fine lines,
well, nothing really happens. And if you’re not sure it did
anything unusual, but it smelled wonderful and felt terrific, you
might buy it again anyway.
· Vague promises. How many times have you seen a product marketed with the phrase “Clinically proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by up to 33 percent,” or some such? Have you ever asked yourself, what does that mean, exactly? You don’t live in a clinical setting, so does that percentage work in the real world? The term clinically proven sounds persuasive, but as we just saw under “scientific trappings,” it’s often more marketing than science. Generally, the phrase means that at least one component of the product has been shown, in one study or another, to have had some biological actions, such as helping wounds heal faster by stimulating cell division. But it’s not necessarily true that it has been demonstrated by a well-controlled, independent clinical study to have significant effects in skin.
Find more ways that you can reduce the signs of aging with The Mind-Beauty Connection by Amy Wechsler.
About the Author
Amy Wechsler, MD, is a
dermatologist and a psychiatrist, one of only two doctors in the
country who are board-certified in both specialties. She is also
the author of
The Mind-Beauty
Connection. Evidence of the
mind-beauty connection walks into her office every day:
"Premature aging and adult acne are the two most common skin
problems I see, and stress and exhaustion are often at the bottom
of both," she says. Dr. Wechsler practices in New York City,
where she lives with her husband and two kids. She is a member of
the RealAge Scientific Advisory Board.
Learn more about The Mind-Beauty Connection:
- Take a look inside The Mind-Beauty Connection
- Watch a video of Amy Wechsler
- Buy the book The Mind-Beauty Connection
- Browse more beauty books
